Lawmakers to Fashola: Curb menace of truck drivers

Lagos State House of Assembly has called on Governor Babatunde Fashola to check the menace of truck and trailer drivers on bridges and highways in Apapa Local Government Area.

They also urged the governor to ensure that tanker drivers patronise their terminal and holding bay on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

These were part of the resolutions passed by the House following a motion co-sponsored by Hon. Mufutau Egberongbe (Apapa 1); Wahab Alawiye-King (Lagos Island 2); Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu 1), Olumuyiwa Jimoh (Apapa 2) and Moshood Oshun (Lagos Mainland 2).

The House urged the governor to “expedite action on the revitalisation of rail transportation system of the state to help reduce the influx of trucks and trailers plying the route to ease the hardship being experienced by commuters on a daily basis on the road”.

It also called on the National Assembly through the Committee on Works to direct the Federal Ministry of Works to expedite action on the reconstruction of the road to avoid practical shut down of the road.

In arriving at the resolutions, the lawmakers noted the indiscriminate parking and abandonment of trucks and trailers on bridges and highways in Apapa Local Government Area causing traffic jam with their attendant loss of productive man-hours and posing serious danger to the bridges built to ease vehicular movement in the area.

The House also pointed out the health hazards to commuters and residents plying the route because of emissions from the trucks and trailers which constitute nuisance to the environment.

The House expressed worries that the perpetual parking and abandonment of articulated vehicles on the roads and bridges had resulted in serious traffic gridlock that had taken a toll on the economic activities of the axis.

It said the situation had worsened the state of federal roads, thereby posing further serious danger to lives and property in the area.

Also, the House expressed worries that the deep potholes along the roads have turned into death traps, thus giving hoodlums the opportunity to attack commuters and vehicles plying the routes.